CLI Reference

Trimmy has one command: trimmy.

With no subcommand, it launches the desktop editor. When the app is already running, the same command can send control commands to it.

trimmy

Launch the app:

trimmy

This opens the start screen. From there, drag and drop a video or choose one with the open control.

trimmy PATH

Launch Trimmy and open a video immediately:

trimmy "E:\musan\Videos\2026-06-08 23-52-54.mkv"

Relative paths work too:

trimmy ./videos/demo.mp4

Paths with spaces should be quoted:

trimmy "C:\Users\me\Videos\screen recording.mkv"

uvx trimmy

Run Trimmy without installing it into the current environment:

uvx trimmy

Open a file directly:

uvx trimmy ./videos/demo.mp4

Control the running app

Launch the app first:

trimmy "E:\musan\Videos\2026-06-08 23-52-54.mkv"

Then send commands from another terminal.

Check that the app is reachable:

trimmy ping

Inspect the current state:

trimmy state

Open a different file:

trimmy file open ./videos/demo.mp4

Set the trim bounds:

trimmy trim set --start 424.9 --end 442.0

Or use the current playhead:

trimmy trim set --start playhead
trimmy trim set --end playhead

Set crop rectangles:

trimmy crop set --position top --x 120 --y 68 --w 720 --h 405
trimmy crop set --position bottom --x 390 --y 210 --w 720 --h 405

Set the split and targets:

trimmy split set --ratio 0.53
trimmy targets set instagram:reels tiktok:video
trimmy quality set --value optimized

Take screenshots:

trimmy screenshot --target window --output docs/assets/screenshots/window.png
trimmy screenshot --target preview --output docs/assets/screenshots/preview.png

Build and render a queue:

trimmy queue add --output-dir ./exports
trimmy queue list
trimmy queue render

Render immediately:

trimmy render start --output ./exports/demo_tiktok.mp4
trimmy render status

Stop a render:

trimmy render stop

Return JSON for automation:

trimmy state --json

Exit codes

Trimmy exits with an error before opening the UI if ffmpeg or ffprobe cannot be found.

ffmpeg -version
ffprobe -version

If those commands work in the same terminal, Trimmy can find the encoder tools.

Command groups

Group	Examples
Session	ping, state, screenshot, close
Dialogs	dialog state, dialog close, dialog help open
Files	file open PATH
Playback	playback set, playback seek, playback volume, playback mute
Editing	trim set, crop set, split set, split flip
Output	targets list, targets set, quality set
Queue	queue add, queue list, queue remove, queue edit, queue render
Render	render start, render stop, render status

Note

trimmy --help and command-specific help such as trimmy trim set --help are generated by the CLI.